


Cat-astrophy in the Archives

by Shoulder_Devil



Series: Meow Mix [6]
Category: The Magnus Archives (Podcast)
Genre: Elias is annoyed, Fluff, Gen, Michael is amused
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-08
Updated: 2018-07-08
Packaged: 2019-06-07 12:18:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 931
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15219008
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shoulder_Devil/pseuds/Shoulder_Devil
Summary: Michael plays a little prank on the Archives





	Cat-astrophy in the Archives

**Author's Note:**

> HERE!
> 
> HAVE SOME FLUFF!!!
> 
> TAKE IT!!!!!!

A rustling noise caught the edge of Elias’s attention.

_ Now that  _ is _ odd.  _

His door was locked and the windows securely fastened against the autumn chill. If something had entered his office that way he would have Seen it. Perhaps a spider then? Slender legs slipping in through a crack in the baseboards. Many had come in from the cold, to Martin’s delight, making their homes in the Institute’s dark corners. They do so like to keep an eye on his Archivist, but surely none would be so bold as to spin a web in his office. 

It came again, the sound of shifting paper, something moving on a shelf to his right. Too large and too low to the ground to be a spider. Certainly not rodents, steps had been taken to protect not only the Archives and library, but the whole Institute from that mundane threat to paper records. 

Elias closed his eyes and cast his awareness into the room. The brush of something against his leg startled him back into himself before he made very far. It was only due to substantial practice at schooling his reactions in the face of supernatural threats that kept him from yelping in a most undignified manner. It was a rare thing for something to surprise Elias Bouchard and an even rarer one for him to admit it. 

Showing weakness could get you killed. 

He slowly pushed back from his desk to meet the offender that had so deftly avoided his defenses. A pair of golden eyes gazed at him from the shadows, eyes Elias could not See through when he tried. They flashed briefly green as the light caught on tapeta lucida. The animal stepped forward, brushing an orange furred flank along his leg for the second time in as many minutes. A rumble grew in its throat when Elias reached down to scratch under its chin. 

“How on Earth did you get in here?”

The orange tomcat leaping into his lap was not the answer Elias expected. The situation was so absurd, he made no move to stop it as the purring animal settled in and closed its eyes. The resulting scene was much like Melanie often pictured him, a cliche villain sitting in his office stroking a cat. Though in her mind he always had a long haired white cat. 

A falling book startled the cat in his lap. He felt a brief flash of claws through his charcoal grey slacks as it pushed off and ran away. Standing next to the fallen book was another cat, this one a tabby with a raccoon striped tail. It didn’t even have the courtesy to look embarrassed for the disturbance. It licked a delicate paw and began to groom, completely ignoring Elias. 

_ Another one? How? _

A third cat emerged, white with blue eyes, from behind the chair along the wall. Elias tried again to See through the eyes of this invader to no avail. Something was blocking him, shunting him aside when he tried. It was infuriating to say the least. 

Furrowing his brows, Elias sent his awareness out to explore the familiar spaces of his office. He could find nothing out of place, save the book that had been recently relocated to the floor. Nothing he could perceive, yet there were three cats he could see. Four now-- as a plump tortoiseshell jumped on his desk. Four cats he could see but not See. Elias brought all his senses to bear on the desk in front of him. There was something slippery about the cat lounging there that caused his Sight to warp around it. Something was distorting his Vision. 

Distort. 

The orange tom head butted his leg again but Elias was in no mood to indulge it. He let out a heavy sigh and stepped back from it. He nearly tripped on a large Maine Coon lurking behind him. It hissed when his heel clipped its back and shot off to hide under a chair. 

Elias pushed again with his awareness to pinpoint their point of entry. He found it almost immediately, the residue left by a small opening in a closet door. A cat flap, now gone but yellow when it existed, trimmed with black. A garish addition to the dark stained wood, though Elias suspected that had been the point. He had to give the Distortion credit, Michael would have needed a door to pull this little stunt. As difficult as the Spiral was to See, Elias certainly would have noticed if a new door formed in his office. A door within an existing door however, and one that did not lead to the outside… That, unfortunately, had slipped past him. It was not a mistake he would make a second time. 

Now that he knew what he was looking for the cats were easy enough to spot. At least a dozen more were scattered about. They sat atop high shelves, behind furniture, and in various nooks and crannies. Most were content to lounge but a few had set about exploring his office. 

One of the smaller cats, barely a year old by the look of it, started pawing at the contents of a display shelf. Before Elias could reach it, the petulant feline knocked a case to the floor. The sound it made did not speak to the safe landing of Jonah Magnus’s reading glasses. It jumped down to continue to play with the rattling box before Elias managed to snatch it away. 

“Michael,” he cursed. 

A distinct yet nearly imperceptible laugh was his only reply.

 

**Author's Note:**

> Maybe more to come if the mood strikes


End file.
